Bemusement has ensued after a new style of train ticket was put into use on trains to Bristol Temple Meads this week.

Commuters were faced with paper thin tickets in the style of a long receipt that are at least five times bigger than the former card style.

Added to that, the receipt for the ticket is attached, so if the ticket is lost then there is absolutely no hope of a refund or replacement.

The tickets also feature a barcode which can be scanned to open the ticket barriers.

One passenger believed provider Great Western Railway (GWR) may be trialling a new ticketing system which will eventually see an end to physical tickets, with passengers being able to simply scan a barcode on their mobile phone to pass in and out of train stations.

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Dan, a commuter who travels from Oldfield Park near Bath to Bristol Temple Meads every day, said: "My main gripe is the size of them. They’re not wallet friendly and now it’s a case of spending five minutes unravelling the thing. The sooner you can buy a ticket on your smart phone the better.

"I just hope the new paper tickets are made out of recycled material."

The new-look giant train ticket compared with the old card style

A spokesman for Great Western Railway explained the long paper tickets would have been printed by a mobile ticket printing device.

Sixty per cent of those devices are capable of printing the normal credit card-sized tickets, but the other 40 per cent can only print the new longer ticket with a barcode to scan at the gate.

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In a statement, GWR said: "These new tickets follow a new industry standard currently being rolled out across the UK rail network for mobile ticket machines.

“As well as producing less waste than more recent cardboard tickets, they are designed to allow enough space for a barcode to be printed, which can be used at newer styles of gate-line - including at Bristol Temple Meads, enabling passengers to travel more easily through the station.”

However, the new tickets have been slammed on social media up and down the country, with commuters struggling to see how they make life more convenient.

It seems the ticket was rolled out earlier in the year in other areas but has arrived in Bristol now to coincide with the new ticket barriers at Temple Meads.